Can (Should) Arizona Rebrand Itself?

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

Let me set the stage in case you are unaware of the events.  This is certainly not intended to be a definitive accounting of the pros and cons of Arizona’s new immigration law.  It is simply intended to provide some background for context.

• Arizona passes a law (SB 1070) to address the challenges of illegal immigration in their state.  The new law is supported by a majority of Arizona residents.
• President O’Bama weighs in and seeks a bipartisan national solution.
• President O’Bama responds more strongly and raises concerns the law may divide the nation.
• President of Mexico weighs in with criticism of the new Arizona law.
• Arizona Governor defends the law and challenges White House to address illegal immigration.
• The Arizona press tries to educate the public by publishing the full text of SB 1070 so people can more easily get access to it.
• Americans have mixed reactions to the Arizona law including travel boycotts.
• Arizona Governor seeks to rebrand the state in order to refurbish tarnished state brand image.
• The rebranding effort begins.

Core question: Is rebranding the solution to Arizona’s challenge?

Consider This:

• A brand is a promise.  It sets an expectation of what the experience will be like if you engage with the product, corporation, community or state.
• To be effective, a brand promise must be relevant, competitive and authentic.
• Brands take time and money to establish.
• Public relations crisis management is a proven strategy to handle difficult image challenges.

My Potential Concerns:

There is no doubt Arizona’s actions are under scrutiny by both the American and International communities.   But, is it time for the state to walk away from the equity that has invested in establishing over decades?

Based on an Arizona Travel and Tourism branding guide, Arizona (also know as the Grand Canyon State) can be described by four attributes:

1. Unexpectedly Exhilarating Signature Scenery
2. Rejuvenating Open-Air Lifestyle
3. Timeless Discoveries
4. Vibrant Variety

Do a Google search using the terms “perception of Arizona” brand, to find the report.

In my opinion, none of the core attributes that define Arizona appear to be relevant to the current controversy.   If these are indeed the differentiating attributes of the state, does it make sense to walk away from them in an attempt to redefine itself and try to make a new promise that will redefine the state image?

Next question: Is Public Relations Crisis Management a better solution?

Let’s start with a definition of what crisis management is all about.  A crisis is defined in an Institute for Public Relations document as “a significant threat to operations that can have negative consequences if not handled properly”.  The author makes the point that “A crisis can create three related threats:  (1) public safety, (2) financial loss, and (3) reputation loss”.

There are a number of crisis examples that can be instructional -

Cyanide laced Tylenol

Exxon Valdez oil spill

Wendy’s Chili Hoaxer

Northern Illinois University Campus Shooting

In each of these cases, the companies faced significant business risk and had to manage the challenges effectively.

Does Arizona need Rebranding or Public Relations Crisis Management?

The question is not simply a matter of semantics.  For example, the experts you hire could be very different depending on the choice you make.  Great branding agencies are not necessarily great at public relations and visa versa.  The skill sets, knowledge and resources required for successful implementation of each strategy are very different. The time horizons are different for each choice.  The budgets required are based on the work and will also not be the same.

Which Strategy Do You Think Arizona Should Choose?

Share your thinking and experience.  The intent of asking the question is not to influence Governor Brewer’s decision.  I am confident her decision will be made with the input of experts who are thoroughly familiar with the details of the situation.  The intent is for us to learn from each other how to make these types of decisions if our communities are ever faced with an analogous challenge.

Leave a comment on this post.  Your perspective adds to the educational experience and will help advance the practical understanding of this topic. If you are a Facebook user, become a fan.  If you are on LinkedIn, join the Group.  If you are on Twitter, please tweet about this blog post and start following Brand America.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Making Sense of Social Media – Part Three

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

“What’s the buzz tell me what’s a-happening.” Apostles, Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstar has always been a personal favorite of mine.  I can remember when I bought the album in 1970.  It is not surprising then that the lyrics were running through my mind as I reflected on the learnings from the book Buzzmarketing authored by Mark Hughes.

This is the third book I have selected to share some of the historical thinking that will help you ensure your social marketing program delivers a positive return on investment.  Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and President of Truemajority.org said this about the book – “There’s fake corporate marketing and there’s real marketing.  This is the real stuff for real people.”  How cool is that endorsement?

In the book, Mark talks about six secrets to successfully getting people to talk about your stuff.  Here is my interpretation of how to reapply them to create buzz about your community.

SECRET 1 – Push The Six Buttons of Buzz

People love to be the center of attention.  People love to have something fun to share with friends that will brighten their day.  In order to tap into people’s natural desire to be seen and heard, you’ve got to give them something to talk about.  You need to give them a story about your community.  But, it needs to be a story that is entertaining.  Like Bonny Raitt says in her song – “Let’s give ‘em something to talk about.”

Here are the six secret buttons Mark has identified as proven buzz generators.  I have provided a city slogan example for each, but you could think in terms of a headline in an advertisement or a claim featured on your website.

The Taboo (sex, lies, bathroom humor)	Dodge City, KS  – The wickedest little city in America
The Unusual	Show Lo, AZ – Named for the turn of a card
The Outrageous	Tombstone, AZ – The town too tough to die
The Hilarious	McKinleyville, CA – Where horses have the right of way
The Remarkable	Roswell, NM – The aliens aren’t the only reason to visit
The Secrets (both kept and revealed)	Las Vegas, NV – What happens here, stays here

SECRET 2 – Capture The Media

When the media writes about your community, people tend to believe the information.  This is because the media is generally believed to be credible.  In addition, the media already has the attention of potential capital investors and presumably no incentive to make up false claims.  Media can amplify your community’s message.

When you create buzz in the media, people want to know what it is all about.  There are five frequently written story archetypes you can consider:

1. The David-and-Goliath story
2. The unusual or outrageous story
3. The controversy story
4. The celebrity story
5. What’s already hot in the media story

The key is to ensure the stories written about your community are authentic and reflect your community’s brand promise.  This is what helps create the multiplier effect across your other promotion channel choices.  If the messaging is inconsistent, it simply creates noise that makes it even harder to establish the image you want for your community.

SECRET 3 – Advertise For Attention

If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a noise?  If an ad has been placed, but nobody notices it, has your community been advertised?

You need to evaluate advertising placement based on the probability your target audience will actually see your message.  Invest preferentially in media options that are not crowded with other advertisements or messaging.  This will help your communication stand out from the crowd and increase the probability it has an impact.  Break out of traditional media and you are better positioned to create buzz.  It does take more courage to reject the comfortable, but the payoff can be dramatically higher.

SECRET 4 – Climb Buzz Everest

In today’s marketing environment, everybody tends to play follow-the-leader.  Doing what is found to work in other communities and reapplying the tactics in your community is a path that will lead to traditional results.  Traditional results means performing the same as everybody else.  And, that is not buzz worthy.

To successfully climb Buzz Everest, your message needs three key elements:

1. It has to be associated with something big and newsworthy.
2. It has to catch on in Middle America.
3. It has to be fashionable and not related to a fad.

Climbing Buzz Everest requires resourcefulness, follow-through, patience, faith, and courage.  It is important to remember the traditional path is relatively risk-free, but it will only produce average results.  Unless you take a risk, you will never achieve the level of prosperity your community is capable of producing.

SECRET 5 – Discover Your Creativity

Being creative requires you to be open and objective.  Buzz only works when the messaging is authentic and absolutely believable.  Tell it straight.  If people believe you are trying to mislead them, buzz will not happen.

Halfway, Oregon renamed their city to Half.com as a publicity stunt to create global attention on a new internet start-up.  Imagine the courage it took for the Mayor and community leaders to agree to a temporary name change.  The risk was high, but the decision delivered results.  NBC’s Today show broadcast from Half.com, Oregon the day the company launched its website.  It was a bold and memorable move.

Mark suggests there are 5 maxims for discovering your creativity.

1. Be courageous
2. Define the problem – Dump the strategy
3. Understand your consumers firsthand
4. Swing the bat often
5. Initiate competition

SECRET 6 – Police Your Product

Your community needs to create a WOW factor in order to create buzz, and it has to continue to WOW people.  You need a community promise that people will go out of their way to talk about.  Without such a promise, buzz is unlikely.

Get your most vocal advocates on the front line to understand how well or poorly your community promise is being delivered.  Strive to objectively see your community through the eyes of potential capital investors, visitors and citizens.  If your community doesn’t consistently deliver against its core promise, then you need to implement procedures and fixes that address the shortcomings.

For additional perspective on social media use in community branding, check out these blog posts and the comments from experts:

Making Sense of Social Media

Making Sense of Social Media – Part Two

Leave a comment on this post.  Your perspective adds to the educational experience and will help advance the practical understanding of this topic.  If you are a Facebook user, become a fan.  If you are on LinkedIn, join the Group.  If you are on Twitter, please tweet about this blog post and start following Brand America.

Making Sense of Social Media – Take Two

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

The last post on making sense of social media generated a lot of interest.  What I found most rewarding were the emails that said the post made the reader think differently about social media.

I am continuing the discussion for two reasons.

First, there is a lot of learning about effective word-of-mouth or viral marketing that can help you better understand how to create an effective social media program.  This is knowledge that should not be forgotten or ignored.

Second, since I wrote the last post, I have reviewed no less than six new presentations and downloaded two white papers on the keys to social media success.  None of them addressed historical knowledge on what works and what doesn’t work.  And all of them made you feel like if you don’t invest in a social media program you are somehow missing out on a low cost and effective way to communicate with your target audience.  The truth is that maybe you are missing out on a great tactic, but maybe you’re not.

To determine if social media is right for your communication mix, there are two simple questions I advise economic development professionals to answer:

1. Who are you trying to communicate with?
2. Do they use social media tools to get information about communities for potential capital investment?

If your target audience isn’t engaged in social media use to get information about locations, then it is not a smart investment for you to make.

Here is an admittedly “out there” analogy to help make the point.

If a magazine for surfing enthusiasts offered you an 80% discount on a full-page advertisement for your community, would you invest part of your limited promotional budget in placing an advertisement?  Chances are you would decline because the readership of the magazine is unlikely to have sufficient reach among your target audience to warrant running an advertisement in it at any cost.  It would be a bad investment at 100% of the cost and a bad investment at 10% because nobody in your target audience would be exposed to it.  It is a bad investment at any cost.

To be fair, if you were a company selling wetsuits it would be a great buy.

The surfing magazine scenario is easy to see, because the decision is not obscured by hyperbole positioning advertising in surfing magazines as a revolutionary new way to create a meaningful dialogue with members of your target audience.

The decision to invest in a social media effort is just as easy to make if you answer the two questions above.  If your target does not use social media tools to get information about communities for capital investment, then no need for you to invest your limited budget dollars in a social media initiative.

If you conclude that your target audience does use social media tools, then the lessons of PyroMarketing authored by Greg Stielstra (another great book in my personal library) will help you ensure a positive return on investment.

Stielstra provides a four-step model to create evangelists who will proactively advocate for a product.  I’ve taken the liberty to interpret the model for reapplication in place branding.  Hopefully, you’ll find Stielstra’s model thought provoking.

Gather the driest tinder: “Focus your promotions on those people most likely to buy, benefit from, and then enthusiastically endorse your product or service. They are the only ones whose ignition temperature is within reach of your advertising. They light easily and burn hot. The driest tinder is where word-of-mouth wild fires begin.”

Who represents the driest tinder in economic development?

One group are the executives and employees who love living and working in your community. These people cannot help but share their positive experience with others.  They enjoy being Ambassadors for your community.  The only thing holding them back from having an even larger positive impact on your community’s image is that they don’t have a way to reach more people.

Another group are people who have had a great experience in your community and may have moved away.  These people reminisce about the “old days”.  When they are asked about your community, their eyes light up and the positive stories start to flow.

Touch it with the match: “To the extent you can, give people an experience with your product or service. If you want people to laugh, don’t tell them you’re funny, tell them a joke. Experience is the shortcut to product understanding. It touches people deeply and generates more heat than advertising, igniting even the mildly interested.”

If you selected people that have had experience with your community, create a unique experience for them.  Chances are they’re not fully aware of all the reasons your community is a great location choice for capital investment.  Help them understand what you are trying to accomplish, why it is important to the economic prosperity of your community and explain the important role they can play to positively impact the future.  If they see the vision and are adequately energized, their genuine enthusiasm for your community will cause them to want to pitch in and help you.

Fan the flames: Fanning the flames means giving people tools to help them spread your message throughout their social network. People spread messages more effectively than advertising. The fire is hotter than the match. This is why the process that spreads your marketing message must be different than the one by which it began. Leveraging the power of personal influence is the only way to expand your marketing fire beyond its point of origin (the driest tinder and mildly interested) to the masses. By understanding the process you can equip people with tools to exponentially increase their reach and influence.”

It is important to make certain the social media tools you invest in are easy to use to tell the story of your community.  You need to constantly educate your tinder on reasons to believe the points you want communicated about your community.  Provide real world examples and storylines that can easily be repeated.  And, you need to be clear in your direction.  For example – “Please retweet this message so your followers can read this great article about our community.”

Save the Coals: Saving the coals means keeping a record of the people you encounter through your marketing so you can quickly and easily reach them to fan the flames or to tell them about new products that match their interests. This allows your marketing to build equity and keep pace with the needs of your growing business.”

You need to create and maintain a database of people who love your community and are willing share their enthusiasm.  You need to talk to these people routinely and make them feel as special as they really are to the success of your program.  These are the people you want to keep as informed as possible.  Do special things periodically to let them know they are loved.

One company I think does an excellent job at saving the coals is Makers Mark.  This is one of the brands that have achieved lovemark status in my mind.  Their Ambassador program is extremely well done.  I have enjoyed their email, snail mail, small gifts, shared cask ownership program, sponsored events, and distillery tours.  You may enjoy studying their Ambassador program in order to get ideas for potential reapplication.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a Senior Ambassador for Markers Mark.  I love the program (and product).

Next week, I am going to blog about the learnings from BuzzMarketing authored by Mark Hughes.

In the meantime, I would like to hear about your experience in using social media to communicate your community’s promise.  What have you found works best?  What are the constraints you’ve discovered?  What advice would you give colleagues?  What examples would you recommend people research?  Are there differences in application between countries?

Leave a comment on this post.  Your perspective adds to the educational experience and will help advance the practical understanding of this topic.  Forward this to a friend.  If you are on Facebook, become a fan.  If you are on LinkedIn, join the Group.  If you are Twitter, please tweet about this blog post and start following Brand America.

Making Sense out of Social Media

Monday, May 10th, 2010

The topic of social media has been on my radar screen recently.  In part because of questions I have been reading in the LinkedIn Groups I belong to.  And, because of some questions I have been getting from business managers who are trying to assess why their social media investment is not yielding the results they expected.  I think it’s probably time to take three steps back and provide some historical context about social media.  I am hoping that by doing so, it will help make sense of social media as a communication tool and increase your odds of success.

First the good news – the underlying concept of leveraging social channels for communication is not new.  The media options have certainly expanded with the advent of the internet and newer tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (to name just a few).  But, the fundamental concept is not new. Second, the even better news – the concept has been well studied and there is a lot of information available that describe the key drivers for success.

When I was much younger, the channel was labeled as word-of-mouth.  The goal was to create sufficient loyalty for your product or service among a subset of your target audience (typically < 10%) such that they would be compelled to advocate the purchase of your product or service.  Kevin Roberts (CEO, Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi) even coined the phrase “lovemark” to describe brands that have succeeded in creating “loyalty beyond reason”.  A great resource to learn more about the research behind this communication channel is WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association).

From word-of-mouth, authors of business literature shifted to calling the subject viral marketing.  Many of the learnings on word-of-mouth were codified and modeled to help us understand how to better manage the channel as part of our marketing mix.  And of course, a lot of news books were sold making the authors very happy.

One book I found exceptionally helpful is Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  This past weekend, I decided to pull the book from my personal library, dust off the jacket cover, and then reread both my highlights and margin notes so I could share them with you.

Gladwell describes the “tipping point” is the moment of critical mass, the threshold, or the boiling point.  The magic moment when enough people have begun to communicate your message that it begins to be communicated with minimal investment on your part.  It is the moment every social media program seeks to deliver, but few actually achieve it.

One obvious next question is – How then can I increase the odds my social media effort reaches the tipping point?  Well, Gladwell provides some helpful perspective.

THE LAW OF THE FEW – The tipping point is driven by the efforts of a handful of exceptionally engaged people, not by the masses.  It seems Pareto’s Principle (a.k.a. 80:20 Rule) is clearly at play in social media.  Yet, how many of us can identify who the 20% of our audience are that will help deliver the exponential reach we are seeking for our messaging?  If you think about it, we should really know these people by name.  If we don’t, we should put tactics in place to identify them.

To help us identify them, Gladwell suggests these few “special people” can be characterized as follows:

• Connectors – Remember the game six degrees of separation?  In that game, not all degrees are equal.  It turns out six degrees of separation doesn’t look like everyone is connected to everyone else in six degrees.  In actuality, a very small number of people are connected to everyone else in just a couple steps.  The rest of us are linked through these uniquely plugged in people.
• Mavens – These are people who are viewed by others as having important information on a subject.  Their point of view is sought after and listened to.  Mavens love to share new information, incite discussions and answer questions.  They take pleasure in solving other people’s problems.
• Salesmen – Some people are excellent at interjecting emotion into a discussion.  They are passionate about subjects, optimistic by nature and often persuade us when we are unconvinced.  Their enthusiasm is contagious and can help stimulate loyalty beyond reason.

THE STICKINESS FACTOR – There are actually ways of increasing the memorability and contagiousness of a message if you design the construct correctly.  Net, it isn’t simply what you say – presentation matters.  There is a way to package information that under the right circumstances can be irresistible.  All you have to do is find that way.  In my opinion, storytelling is one way to help improve the stickiness of your message.

THE POWER OF CONTEXT – People are a lot more sensitive to the environment in which they hear your message than you might imagine.  For example, if your message resonates better if told by national media than in your blog, you should strive to tell it in national media.  You are not necessarily the most credible source of information for your message.  Anything you can do to increase credibility helps your efforts to reach the tipping point.

Gladwell also discovered to make your message contagious and create an epidemic you may need to create many small movements first.  Pursuing the masses isn’t always the best strategic approach.

So how do you make sense of the guidance Gladwell provides when thinking about social media?

First, recognize that the principles can be reapplied even if the tactical tools have evolved from word-of-mouth.

• Who are your connectors, mavens and salesmen?  Do you know them by name?  Are you preferentially getting them information in advance and encouraging them to play the role they love to play?  What more can these people do for you to help increase the reach of your message and help create loyalty beyond reason for your community?
• Are you paying attention to the way you are communicating your message?  Do you have a purposeful construct that maximizes the engagingness with and memorability of your message?  Have you explored the power of storytelling to help you speak to both the mind and heart of your target audience?  Is your message best told as news?
• Is the context of your social media effort right to communicate your message?  Is the message best coming from you or somebody else?  What impact does this have on your number of Twitter followers, LinkedIn Group members or Facebook page fans?

Second, are you investing enough time, energy and money in the people who matter most in getting your message out and believed?  If you are interested in getting the most from your social media investment, you should probably be concentrated on doing a great job knowing and supporting your connectors, mavens and salesmen.

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the subject.  What word-of-mouth or viral marketing principles do you see at play in successful social media efforts or violated in unsuccessful ones?  What other reading would you suggest to somebody interested in learning more about the subject?

I’d also like to know – when it comes to Brand America do you see yourself as a Connector, Maven, Salesperson or simply an interested party.  It is time to practice what I preach and find my “special people” to help me make the Brand America message reach the tipping point.

Leave a comment. Forward this to a friend.  If you are on Facebook, become a fan.  If you are on LinkedIn, join the Group.  If you are Twitter, please tweet about this blog post and start following Brand America.